The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-02-24
WHEN NIAGARA WAS DRY.
A Remarkable Day, Forty Years Ago, In
the History of the Great Cataract.

WHEN NIAGARA WAS DRY.
A Remarkable Day. Forty Years Ago. In
the History of the Great Cataract.
"Thirty-nIne years ago next spring."
said an old resident of this village. "a |
sight was witnessed at the Falls OF |
Niagara that had never been seen be- |
fore, at least by people then on earth.
and in all probability such sight will |
never be Witnessed again. 1t was moth |
ing more or less than the running dry |
of the great cataract or at least SO near |
ly dry that it is no exaggeration to call
it so, in which condition the falls re-
manned for one whole day.
.sThe winter of 1948 had been one of
the coldest on record, and such ice has
never been known on Lake Erie since,
l guess, as formed that season. 1t was
of enormous thickness. 1t was quite
late in the spring before the Ice was
loosened, even about the shores of the
lake One day think it was near the
end of ApriEa very stiff northeasterly
wind came up. and its force was SO
great that it moved the great fields OF
ice, then entirely separated from the
shores, up the lake. piling the foes in
great banks as they moved. The sight
of those ice-banks is described by those
who witnessed it as one of most awful
grandeur. Toward night the wind
changed suddenly to the opposite quar-
ter, and grew into terrible gale from
that direction. The lakes surface was
packed with miniature icebergs, and
these were hurried back by the gale
with such tremendous force that an i'm
penetrable dam was formed in the neck
of the lake from which Niagara river
flows. and the great current of water
which finds its way from the lake in
the rushing channel of that stream. to
be dashed over the gigantic precipice of
the falls, was SO held in check that no
more than one-Quarter of its usual
volume could find passage through the
immense pack Of ice.
..As this pack was stubborn. it was
naturally but short time before the fall
had drained nearly all the water out of
the river. This. of course, occurred
during the night and we people who
lived in. Niagara village knew nothing
OF the phenomenon until next morning.
remember that awoke very early that
morning with the sense of something
exceedingly strange expressing me. 1t
was some time before discovered that
the feeling came from ths fact that the
cataract was almost missing. jumped
out of bed. and on leaving the house
found that scores of others had been
awakened by the same circumstances.
and were hurrying toward the falls TO
see what the trouble was. We found
that the great Niagara Falls was about
one-quarter of.its former volume.
1--WE had not heard of the trouble at
Lake Erie. and the terrible thought
that the falls were running dry created
feeling of alarm not easily imaginable.
The American channel had dwindled 10
q creek in comparison with its original
proportion, while the British channel
resembled some ordinary river in the
drouth of August. Goat island was as
big as two Goat Islands. rs the water
had shrunk from every side of it. leaving
wide expanse of wet, Shiny, jagged
rocks which no eye in that vicinity had
ever seen before. The bed of the Cana
dian rapids far out into the stream, was
dry. as was the space between the lower
end of Goat Island, and out beyond the
tower. The rocks thus exposed were
black and forbidding. giving the dry
river bed the appearance of a tract OF
charred- stumps. The Three Sisters
looked forlorn in their enhanced dimen-
sions. The great jet of water which
had, from time out of mind, leaped into
the air about 800 yards south Of this
group of islands in the great rapids,
and which is leaping there to-day. was
not leaping that morning. and. SO some
one remarked that day, the tremendous
roar of Niagara had subsidized to d
| moan.
The scene was at once desolate,
strange and awful to contemplate. The
picture will never leave my mind. The
whole village was out exploring caves,
dark recesses. curious formations in the
ROCKS, and other remark able features oi
} the cataract and rapids that no mortal
eye had probably ever gazed upon be.
fore. These explorations were made
safely 10 the very brink of the Horse
shoe Rapids. A Mr.. Holley drove a
horse and buggy from the head of Goat
Island clear to the spot where the leap
ing jet of water had always writhed
and foamed. He also cut several sticks
of timber near the brink of Horseshoe
|. Fall, had them hewed there. and hauled
them awav with four horses. These
sticks-they were large, fine timbers-
are in the frame of some house at the
falls now. This remarkable condition
of affairs at the cataract continued all
day, and showed no sign of a change
when the people went to bed that
night When we arose in the morning,
however. the old familiar thunder of the
falls was again shaking the earth as
before, and the river and the rapids
We're again the seething, whirling,
Irresistible torrent of old. The ice in
the lake had shifted again. and some
time in the night the long restrained
volume of water had rushed down and
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